The author and his identity

Why do I write under the pseudonym W. S. Mahler?

This is a question I have been asked many times. As Elena Ferrante, author of the Neapolitan tetralogy L'amica geniale says, for me a literary work must be a self-sufficient organism, that is, it should not be necessary to know the author in order to understand and enjoy the work.

But this is not the only explanation.

There are many examples of writers who decide to publish their works under a pseudonym, and each of them has their own reasons. Most use a pen name as a pure marketing strategy. There are others, the least I would say, who simply want to shield themselves, for one reason or another, from public scrutiny.

As most of you probably know, Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym, and there is a lot of speculation about who is hiding behind this pen name. I am not in the least interested in her true identity. In fact, I fully share her desire to preserve her privacy. Other authors put forward different but equally valid reasons for preserving their anonymity. To name just two of the most well-known cases: the author known as John Le Carré was forced to use this pen name because his work at the Foreign Office prevented him from publishing anything under his own name (David John Moore Cornwell). J. K. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter universe, used Robert Galbraith as a pseudonym to freely write a different kind of literature without feeling the pressure of her fans or having to fulfil any expectations.

Like these and many other authors, I have decided to publish Guarded by Secrecy under the pseudonym W. S. Mahler for reasons I prefer to keep to myself, although I can say they are not very different from those expressed from other writers in my situation. In any case, it is a personal decision that I hope will be respected by my readers.

Another question I have often heard is why I chose W. S. Mahler as my pen name. This I can explain. When I decided to publish Guarded by Secrecy I first thought of calling myself Otto Schmidt-Toledano (the novel’s protagonist), since the book is written in the first person. I changed my mind shortly before its publication, fearing that if I used that pseudonym it would not be completely clear that the novel is a work of fiction and there would always be those who might think that I was narrating a real story. Looking for other options, I told myself that my pen name should have something to do with me without revealing my identity at all. And since I am a great music lover, I decided to compose my pseudonym with the names and surname of three of my favorite composers: W(olfgang Amadeus Mozart). (Johann)S(ebastian Bach). (Gustav)Mahler.

#Pseudonym